


She is the latest in technology and you're a 21st century woman

by weblectricity



Category: The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Android!Serena, Emily is a mess, F/F, Robot/Human Relationships, but that's nothing new
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:07:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24897427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weblectricity/pseuds/weblectricity
Summary: "Emily," Andy hissed, "did you fuck android Serena?"
Relationships: Emily Charlton/Serena
Comments: 6
Kudos: 19





	She is the latest in technology and you're a 21st century woman

**Author's Note:**

> So one day [incorrectdwpquotes.tumblr.com](https://incorrectdwpquotes.tumblr.com) ([AO3](/users/holesinyourlungs/pseuds/holesinyourlungs/)) posted a quote that started like this:
> 
>  _Android!Serena: Do you think Emily would date a robot? I'm not a robot...just asking for a friend. I have skin._
> 
> And I haven’t stopped thinking about Android!Serena. This is definitely a crack fic but I still wanted to do it seriously. Hope this is a fun read, and please tell me I’m not the only one with a love for Android!Serena.
> 
> I’m kind of bashing a bit on Andy here, I feel like she’d be a bit on the conservative side with technology. 
> 
> Title is a mix and match from songs off the album Time by Electric Light Orchestra. Seemed fitting. No beta, feel free to point out mistakes.

"Emily," Andy hissed, "did you fuck android Serena?"

"Of course I bloody did! She lifted Mike from Finance three feet in the air and threw him in the rubbish bin because he didn't stop hitting on me in the cafeteria! I bloody dragged her to the loo and jumped her bones!"

"She's an android," Andy whisper-shouted disbelievingly.

"At this point I don't even care," Emily muttered mostly to herself.

***

"Emily, hello!"

Emily Charlton froze on her seat and hoped the ground would open up and swallow her. It would be on par for a Thursday, but sadly it was only Tuesday. She would have to face the consequences of her actions like a big girl. She hated it.

She managed to get out a _hello, Serena,_ before the woman in question (android, she's a bloody android, her mind provided helpfully) bent down and leaned in on either side of her face for two air kisses. Serena smiled prettily and genuinely at her before following Jocelyn into Miranda's office for the 11.30 run through.

And honestly, Emily couldn't remember when was the last time anyone was genuinely happy to see her.

***

It was a rare lunch break that Nigel joined them in the cafeteria and because everybody _actually_ liked him (Emily herself was more like Miranda in that most people hated her but tried to keep in her good books), Emily found herself crammed between him and Serena. She still hadn't figured out how to distance herself from her, and the pressure at her left shoulder was a pretty good reminder of that.

He was regaling them all with a tale of Miranda skewering some wannabe Instagram influencer when Serena nudged Emily and pressed her phone into Emily's hands.

"Can't solve a CAPTCHA?" Andy asked, grinning. "Or can't she find all the images with street lights? Oh, maybe it's an _are you a robot_ question?"

The whole table went quiet. Andy was looking around with a hopeful smile. And God bless the vapid clackers, absolutely nobody returned it.

"I was just roasting Nigel," Selena said and showed the phone screen with the unsent text "I've heard this 5 times this week." Emily smirked at Andy, because she may not know where she's with Serena, she knew well enough she hated little miss makeover.

And though she doesn't deserve it, Nigel comes to Andy's rescue and saves her from her further humiliation.

"Ouch, Serena! You wound me! I've taken enough of all of your time, I should get back to my cellblock."

***

"Umm, Miranda?"

Andrea bloody Sachs had guts, Emily had to admit. She was also an idiot, wore atrocious "clothes" (well, not so much lately) and was also about to be fired. Actually even that was too much to hope for lately, ever since Paris.

Miranda pierced her with an icy stare, but the idiot seemed to take this as a please-enlighten-me-with-your-profound-wisdom-you-charming-country-bumpkin gaze.

"Why is that robot now working for Runway?"

Serena, her mind supplied helpfully, but Emily was not a bloody amateur and knew when to keep her mouth shut.

"Robot?" Miranda asked innocently while lowering her glasses and shooting daggers at Andrea. The idiot bit her lip.

"Do you perhaps mean Serena, the sentient artificial intelligence autonomously functioning to better her skills in make-up while already being the best in her field and also one of my employees with the best work ethic? Do you perhaps mean why she decided to apply in the art department? Or even why she chooses to present as female? Or did you perhaps use the term robot to strip her of her agency and her humanity, simply because she is not a biological life form? Really Andrea, pettiness does not look good on you. Serena is a valuable member of Runway's team, and I will not have your Midwestern farmers-daughter beliefs belittling her."

Andy was flushing crimson, opening her mouth like a fish out of water but not managing to say anything.

"There was no way I was going to let Auto Universe have her and an employee that does not need lunch breaks? That would just be bad business practice to let this pass up." Miranda pierced Andy with another icy stare then dismissed them with a _that's all._

By the time they were scurrying out of the office Emily was also turning crimson. Because Serena did in fact take lunch breaks and Emily seemed to have become her favorite lunch.

***

"Ugh, how are you not sweating like a bastard right now," Emily groaned, spilling across her desk. "It's the hottest day of the summer and the AC is barely keeping up."

"They forgot to make me sweat glands," Serena joked back.

"Lucky you," Emily mumbled.

"Lucky you you can sweat, I have to head into the lions den to ask if i can leave early because my systems are about to overheat. I'm sure Miranda will love to hear that."

Serena fans Emily a few more times with a stack of printer paper then straightens herself to go into Miranda's office.

"I'll see you tomorrow, querrida."

"Why do you speak with a Mexican accent?" Andy suddenly says, after keeping mum for the past few minutes.

"It's Brazilian actually, Brazilian Portuguese. Mexican is a variation of Spanish, so it's quite different."

"But why?"

"It's how I want to present. A lot of my parts were made in Brazil and this is how I choose to honor the workers who created them. I used to look a lot more artificial, but it's isolating. I wanted more interaction, more contact with other people. So I had to choose what to look like and how to present. And I wanted something that is part of my history."

"Oh."

There's a beat of silence before Andy continues: "She'll talk to her daughters any minute now, so she'll be in a much better mood if you can hold on for ten minutes."

"Oh, thank you. Andy, you are really keeping a close eye on Miranda, no?"

***

"Take care of this," Miranda said as she strides past Emily's desk and drops a cellphone on it. Thank God it's Friday.

Emily picks it up and sees Serena looking back at her.

"Shit, where are you, can you get a taxi, Miranda is," she glances briefly into her office – "not critical yet. You need to get back here."

"Emily, I'm here," Serena says through the screen.

"You're in make-up? Is the run through on track, did the French model bail?"

"Emily, somebody else is handling the run through, I am stuck here."

"Where," she hissed, exasperated.

"In the phone," Serena sighed virtually.

Emily squinted at the phone and realized that it was not a video call, Serena was some sort of generated 3D avatar.

"I had maintenance yesterday and there was some battery leakage, so they had to keep me overnight but this morning they realized they didn't have my battery SSI in stock, so I'm stuck like this until Monday. They express-mailed me to Runway."

"What? What kind of shoddy maintenance guy do you have?"

"I'm sorry Emily, just drop me off in make-up, I've ordered a tripod, it'll drone in before 9."

"Wait, how about I yell at some incompetent interns for you," Emily says excitedly. "Please, it's been a horrible week."

The 3D Serena smiles brilliantly at her and Emily has to admit that this hyperreal Serena with a smile that is just a bit too wide and eyes too brown and sparkly is just as much Serena as the one she can hear humming warmly when she leans in for cheek kisses. It's comforting.

"Wait, why are you in an iPhone?"

***

"Thank you for letting me go off on your interns," Emily says and after a beat adds: "and for stopping me when … you know …"

"Anytime, querrida. It's the least I could do, after running our plans."

Oh, they were supposed to go clubbing, blow off some steam, pretending to flirt with guys but mostly judging everyone else's everything from their booth. It was their thing.

"We can just binge something on Netflix. Ugh, that's so domestic, I'm embarrassed of myself." Emily pretends to gag, but it sounds ... nice. "Oh, I'll finally get to stick a charger in you!"

Serena, with her too wide smile and too brown eyes and sparkly skin makes scandalous noises in protest.

***

"You coming out or what?" Emily asked through the closed door of her bathroom. "I don't even care, I need to piss, I'm coming in."

"No, don't," Serena called and there was a hint of panic in her voice that made Emily stop.

"Sorry, your bathroom privileges are revoked when you don't even really need it," she added with no real bite in her words.

"Just a moment, I'm coming out, querrida." Serena exited the bathroom a moment later with a kiss to Emily's forehead and a grateful smile. She always does that when Emily's not in heels and she's towering over her. Serena likes that she's tall, that she's almost a head above Emily, Emily knows that.

"You don't have to pretend, you know. I- I've had my freakout, I'm not going to be weird about you plugging a charger cable in your belly button or something."

Emily is quite familiar with Serena's belly button and she's pretty sure there won't be a charging port there. But there is a seam an inch or so to the left of it, Emily can feel it parting slightly if she presses there. Emily is familiar with a lot of Serena's synthetic skin, large swathes of it and there are some weird parts of it and there are some weird seams and the texture is unnatural, but it's become _Serena's skin_ and Emily likes the feel of it.

She's still standing in front of Emily (like an amazon goddess from another planet), holding her elbows and smiling gratefully.

"Thank you. It's not that i don't feel comfortable around you, but … You wouldn't want to have me standing next to you when you're on the toilet, would you?"

"Okay, barf, let's go already."

They go out, to the fancy new club, they pretend to flirt with guys, they dish halfheartedly on everyone else's everything, but mostly they stay in their booth, making out, Emily's skin burning where Serena's cool long fingers touch her, and she listens to the warm hum she hears and feels on her fingertips when's she's holding Serena close to her.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are welcome, also here's my tumblr: [weblectricity.tumblr.com](https://weblectricity.tumblr.com)


End file.
